THE ROLE OF CYTOKINES, TOTAL AND SPECIFIC IGE IN NONHEMOLYTIC TRANSFUSION REACTIONS AFTER PLATELET CONCENTRATE TRANSFUSION

The pathophysiology of non-haemolytic transfusion reactions (NHTR) aft er platelet concentrate (PC) substitution is still controversial. Cyto kines, total serum IgE and specific IgE antibodies have been proposed to be related with NHTR. Therefore, we examined IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-S, TNF-alpha, total serum IgE and specific IgE antibodies in sera from p atients suffering from different forms of NHTR. The same parameters we re measured in the PCs responsible for the reactions. Our results show that inflammatory cytokines in the PC play only a subordinate role in the pathophysiology of NHTR. However, specific IgE antibodies in the recipients' sera were clearly associated with immediate-type hypersens itivity NHTR. We conclude that atopic patients might have a higher ris k of suffering from this form of transfusion reactions than non-atopic patients. For this reason we suggest the evaluation of allergies in p atients who require multiple PC transfusion.